The Sorting
by Luna's Lullaby
Summary: This is a story my sister wrote. Lily, James, Severus, Sirius forgive if I spelled it wrong Remus, during the sorting.


**The Sorting**

"Firs' years, firs' years, this way!"

In the darkness he examined absentmindedly the three other pairs of shoes staring back at him. They nicely reflected the little bit of firelight that broke the blackness of the lake. Severus also noted that his shoes did not reflect.

He glanced around him. The other three in the boat with him were peering eagerly over the boat's edge and across the lake. The one next to him, Remus Lupin, was stretching his neck as far as possible over the edge to absorb the approaching vista. Severus took the advantage to set himself as far from the others in the boat as physically possible. These weren't the ones he'd be friends with; there'd be others. These didn't like him. He could tell. He was good at that.

Severus allowed himself a look upward, over the heads of the two ahead of him, and took in the sight of the goliath castle before him. Parts of it seemed to jut out over nothing, while others spiraled into towering turrets. Thousands of windows blinked back their orange lights, like enormous fireflies in thick syrup. He didn't know why he felt like something was stuck somewhere between his heart and throat, but he gritted his teeth, unconsciously gliding his thumb over his wand. The fact that he held his wand in his hands while all the others had theirs waiting in their dormitories made him smile in the shadow of the massive man leading them all.

"Here we are," said the towering man through his thick beard. "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Even the joshing foursome he'd traveled with the entire journey fell silent as they walked single file into the Great Hall. Severus suddenly felt much more at ease with those around him so taken aback. While Severus had had foreknowledge of what Hogwarts would be like, clearly _they'd_ not known what to expect. A pasty-faced boy not far ahead of him kept shifting his weight and anxiously twisting his hands into his robes. Severus recalled him from the train ride, but couldn't remember anyone actually using his name. He then eyed Remus Lupin in front of him, who was staring, fascinated, into the enchanted ceiling above him, sandy hair getting too close to Severus's face. He took a step back and glanced behind him. There stood the bespectacled boy Severus had learned was called James. He, as opposed to Lupin, seemed much more relaxed, and spotting Severus's eyes on him, emitted something of a lopsided grin.

"So," he muttered. "Ready to be Sorted?"

_What kind of question is that? There's no "readying" needed for sorting… _Severus bit his tongue.

Apparently, James took his silence as uncertainty. "Well," he continued, inching closer to make sure he was heard. "The Sorting involves a few things… first, you need to get past the vipers, but that won't be a problem for you, right?"

Severus raised a brow.

"And then, of course, you've gotta prove yourself worthy of your House by bringing back a sucker from the giant squid in the—"

"Oh, shut up!" Severus hissed, and made a mental note to hex him the firs time he saw James alone.

"All right mate, just trying to warn you," James shrugged as a somber-looking witch walked before the long line of waiting, anxious first years and sat an old wizard's hat –The Sorting Hat, Severus noted—on top of a simple stool.

The Sorting Hat belted out a lengthy rhyme which lasted, in Severus's mind, far too long. At the end of it all, he didn't even remember one phrase from the hat's chanting. But other students must have found it extraordinary, because in the end they gave the hat a horribly loud applause, with a few onomatopoeias thrown out, too.

And one by one the line dwindled. He watched the students from his shared compartment as they waited their turn. Only a few names passed before the first of the group was called: the dark-haired and proud looking with those grey eyes stepped from the line as he was called.

"Black, Sirius."

Sirius Black walked quickly to the shabby hat and pulled it onto his head, staring directly into the four long, filled tables facing him in anticipation.

The hat's mouth ripped open.

_GRYFFINDOR! _

The scarlet-clad table nearest to them erupted into cheers, as, by the time three students had been Sorted, Severus had come to expect. Sirius, looking pleasantly surprised, leapt off the stool and found his place at the Gryffindors' table.

After the Sortings of Diggs, Christopher (_HUFFLEPUFF!_), Evans, Lily (_GRYFFINDOR!)_, Hutchins, Frederick (_SLYTHERIN!)_ Jenkins, Bertha (_GRYFFINDOR!)_, Remus Lupin (or, in this case, Lupin, Remus) was called forward. Even though at least a dozen and a half students had preceded him, he still looked like he wasn't sure what he should do. But, as soon as the hat brushed against his light and tossed hair, it shouted unabashedly that he was to go in _GRYFFINDOR!_

Apparently, this year Gryffindor was the place to be, thought Severus indifferently. His mother had mentioned many things to him over the years about the wizarding world and but she'd never mentioned which House she was in, or why everyone seemed to make such a big commotion about them. Severus had started thinking after Avery, Phoebus was Sorted into Slytherin that the whole thing was a waste of time. He couldn't care less, frankly, he told himself.

Eventually, all the boys from his compartment had been Sorted, and now there was no one left to watch. Both Peter Pettigrew (the nervous and watery-eyed boy whose name Severus never heard on the train) and James (whose name he learned was Potter) were Sorted into Gryffindor, and now he was one of the last half-dozen or so remaining.

"Snape, Severus," said the solemn witch, peering at the tail end of her parchment through her square spectacles.

And even still, though he'd watched so many before him and though he thought their uncertainty silly, when Severus stepped from his place his feet seemed much heavier than normal. And even with the newfound lead in his feet, he sat beneath the hat, eyes closed. The thought of looking back at all the school as they sucked in his every detail was much more terrifying than sitting under an ancient hat.

_Well,_ he heard the hat in his ears muse. _You certainly seem ready for Slytherin, but with your heritage, Salazar would not be pleased._

_**Great, then put me somewhere else. I don't care.**_

_No, no, you would not be the only one like you in Slytherin. I see too much of a desire to prove yourself, ambition, and immense ability. You would do quite well in Slytherin. Yes, that's your place. So, let it be then, you've found your place in SLYTHERIN!_

For the first time in his memory, Severus's presence was greeted with approval.

He took in the faces around him. They continued to watch the Sorting ceremony for the most part, but a few he met eye to eye. One he saw nearby he recognized as Phoebus Avery, one of the first Sorted. Avery nodded toward him shortly in recognition, then returned his eyes to the last ones being Sorted. Severus looked toward the other end of the table. A younger girl sat very near to a fourth year boy with whom she was chatting loudly. She had very dark and thick hair, and even darker eyes, and her countenance was smug, as if she had something no one else did, but everyone desired. The one she was talking to was white-blond with the same grey eyes as Sirius Black, but his were much more like stone. He was fair-skinned and had very angular features. Severus saw that on the _other_ side of the dark-haired prefect sat a very blonde girl, about the same age as her neighbor, whose blue eyes were boring into the prefect's turned head. On her face was an utter look of disgust, and it seemed the three were more absorbed in their triangle than anything else in the room.

Severus looked for some more first years, and decided to give up after counting only three others when, after the headmaster had said what he needed to say, the school in one swift motion moved as one to the massive double doors and up to their respective Houses.

"All right, first years," a strong voice ordered from somewhere to Severus's right. "Follow me."

He saw the elusive first years he'd missed earlier following close behind a prefect with very short brown hair and a statue-esque face. The prefect saw him set apart and, sighing, motioned for him. "C'mere."

As they stood before the portal which hid the Slytherin common room, the prefect explained that the password would change about every term, and that "This term's password is _sangue puro_. Means 'pure-blood'," he added with a shrug.

Severus bit the inside of his mouth. Hard.

_Wonderful_, he thought. _Simply wonderful._

**-Author's Note: So it was kindly pointed out to me that my timeline was quite a bit off, and it would drive me nuts to leave something like that unfixed. So. I've changed it. :) That's why if you read it more than once it's gonna be different. But that's okay… I just hope I can keep the timeline straight!-**


End file.
